Chapter 1603: Painting Within A Painting

What could there possibly be in this refrigerated container? What was this if not a container of chilled fruits and vegetables?

This was a detachable refrigerated container, so the freezer could either be connected to the main container body or be detached from it. Generally speaking, these containers would usually be connected to the refrigerating unit when they were being transported on land. On the sea, though, the refrigerating unit would be detached.

When the refrigerated container was loaded onto the ship, the interior of the container was actually being chilled by the refrigerating compartment on the ship. The compartment was connected to the refrigerated container through a cold air pipeline system that made the refrigerating much more effective.

Li Du saw all of this the moment one of the little bugs flew in.

Luckily for him, the little bug had an awesome ability, which was automated precision guidance!

That was to say, if there were antiques in the box, the bug would automatically fly in search of them.

The little bug’s ability proved to be extremely helpful this time. Amidst the multitude of boxes in varying sizes, it swiftly chose one and flew towards it. That box was filled with well-framed oil paintings.

Of all the paintings, the little bug had its eye on one depicting roses. The flowers were a deep red and a grayish-white and there were lush green leaves connected to them. The roses were placed in a green vase on a table where petals were scattered.

The canvas was left unsigned so it was difficult for the uninitiated to properly determine the author and the background of this painting.

However, Li Du had an epiphany, even with just a quick glance at the painting. There was no doubt that this was the painting Stein and Gasol were after. It was probably a valuable antique, one that was kept hidden under the other oil paintings that were also in the box.

These paintings were stored in a refrigerated cargo container because these containers were dehumidifying on top of being refrigerating. Just like an air-conditioned space, the container was regulated to stay at a designated temperature and to dehumidify.

This was very important in the preservation of oil paintings since temperature changes and high humidity levels would ruin them.

Well then, what was so special about this painting?

This was a great time to use another powerful ability of the little bug: the ability to turn back time!

Very quickly, a man Li Du knew fairly well appeared in front of the canvas.

Vincent Van Gogh! It was he again, the most legendary painter Earth has ever seen!

Li Du had obtained a portrait of Van Gogh some time ago and had seen the man when the little bug had turned back time, so he was rather familiar with his appearance. This time, the moment time was turned back for this painting, he recognized the famous painter immediately.

There was no doubt that this was one of Van Gogh’s paintings, which were in high demand at this age so any one of his works would be extremely expensive.

Li Du had once analyzed the man’s paintings, but he could not recall anything about this one.

The painting took shape as time flowed until something that shocked Li Du happened. It was not a rose that was on the canvas but two men; two men who were naked from the waist up, and one of them had an arm extended to strangle the other. The two of them were wrestling!

Li Du now knew what painting this was — Two Wrestlers!

When Li Du had been studying Van Gogh’s posthumous works, he came across Theo Van Gogh’s memoirs. In it, the younger brother mentioned that Vincent had studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. While he had been a student there, he painted a number of portraits.

Van Gogh had drawn a number of people but not many of his portraits ended up in circulation.

Theo wrote that he had asked his older brother what he had drawn, to which the older Van Gogh responded, “Some models, random ones, really, so it’s nothing much. I’ve gotten sick of it all, I’m going to get rid of the paintings.”

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Everyone including Theo had assumed that Vincent was going to destroy the paintings when the latter said he would ‘get rid’ of them, but judging by this painting, Li Du had another idea.

Van Gogh was poor at that time so there was no reason he would waste canvas like this. Canvas was something of a commodity to him so he probably tried to salvage what he could of the used sheets.

As such, one could more or less understand why the roses were painted in such a rich and vivid color. Van Gogh had probably wanted to cover the wrestlers and had intentionally painted on so many flowers and such a huge vase.

In addition, it was worth noting that he had started dabbling in still life and landscape paintings at that time, so perhaps this work was a result of his training.

The moment he understood its secret, Li Du gained an interest in this painting. This was a valuable painting indeed!

Oil paintings were different from paintings of other mediums because of the pigment. Oil paintings were actually 3D paintings because they seemed like they were popping out of the canvas.

As far as Li Du knew, there was a certain technique in the oil painting industry known as grafting.

Oils could be kept for a long time, but the same could not be said for canvases and paint papers which could be destroyed easily.

Some paintings were not protected in time so when people realized their value, the canvas or paper had already been damaged.

In such situations, some professionals would transfer the work from the original canvas onto a new one. In doing so, they ensured that the painting would be preserved longer and better.

Now, the painting was essentially a two-in-one: the base layer was of two wrestlers and the top layer was of roses. In reality, there were techniques that could separate the two and actually turn it into two paintings.

The two paintings were both Van Goghs, which made them all the more valuable!

Li Du did not know how Gasol and Stein managed to lay their hands on the painting or how the pair knew what the work of art was truly worth. This was suspicious — the outside world had close to no records on these two paintings.

However, he decided this was no big deal. What he did care about was the end result; that is, now that he had this box, he gained a new target.

The value of this cargo container lay in these two paintings. The fruits, vegetables, and meat that were stored inside were worthless. Because they had spent such a long time at sea, the produce had already gone bad.

Li Du summoned the little bug and let it fly into another refrigerated cargo container to investigate.

There were many purplish-red bricks, though they were a bit odd. They had a smooth surface, much like glazed tiles, and looked exquisitely made.

However, their beauty was not the issue. What was really interesting was why the bricks were stored in the refrigerated cargo container when construction materials were meant to be stored in open-top cargo containers.

Open-top cargo containers were a special type of cargo container. The top of the container was detachable so that, when removed, items could be transported from the top using a crane. Open-top cargo containers were primarily divided into two categories: hard tops and soft tops.

‘Hard tops’ referred to containers that had their top made of a whole piece of steel, while ‘soft tops’ referred to containers that used either canvas or tarpaulin sheets for a top, supported by foldable beams.

Hard top open-top cargo containers were best suited to store large and heavy items such as steel or wood, while soft top open-top cargo containers were best suited to store certain construction materials like glass, plastic, and cement products.

He was curious so he had no choice but to use the little bug’s ability to turn back time.

Immediately after he did that, the scenes that flashed before him enlightened him. As it turned out, these were no ordinary bricks, much less construction materials. These were actually a type of fruit products.

It was just as well that these two refrigerated cargo containers were right beside each other — Li Du could buy both of them at once.

Just as he had been inspecting the containers, someone suddenly bumped into him from behind.

Li Du turned around to look at the person. The stranger was a man he did not recognize, but the man was glaring coldly at him with his eyebrows furrowed, so he could tell from the stranger’s attitude that he was none too pleased.